Landlord disappeared - what to do?

[Yulia J.]

My relative is renting an apartment, and the landlord disappeared...not answering phone calls, emails for 3 months or so. They pay rent through cozy. The roof leaks when it rains so they have to move their couch when it rains, no hot water in the bathroom sink, etc etc.  It'd a 4-unit, and other 3 apartments have been vacant since the end of the summer. There is no other mailing address listed on a tax assessor website. They didn't pay their rent this month as they got tired of issues and no way of contacting the landlord. This is a trendy hot area and it's difficult to find an apartment for rent right there where they are. Their 1-year lease expired some time ago. What do they do? 

[Al D.]

Going to Legal Aid is fine, as @Colleen F suggested.

The amount of time is alarming. So, I would assume that the landlord is dead... Why no one has shown up as part of an estate by now is unknown. Maybe the landlord is in a coma and there is no will/trust/relatives nearby. Or he just lost the will to be a landlord - I’m getting there.

Your relatives can continue to not pay the rent, and see how long they can get away with that, while also putting up with no repairs. I’m sure you would not recommend that.

Where I would start looking - if you want to find him:

You say it’s a quad. Does anyone come by to clean the common area? Cut the grass? Have they been getting paid? Whom do they invoice?

I’m also assuming that there is at least common-area electric that must be billed to the landlord. You can call the power company to see if they would (attempt to) contact the landlord at their contact info, which may be different. Schmooze them.

If all fails: The address you have for the landlord... If it’s local, ask your relatives to go by and leave a note. If it’s not local, call the law enforcement agency in that area and have it do a “welfare check.” Especially if the landlord is/was elderly... Hopefully, no need to schmooze the dispatcher to get them to go out there - perhaps their computer records may already show what I suspect at the address or under the name. Depending on findings, they may need to notify the next of kin first. But that gets things moving in the right direction for every - ahem - body.